“The dead, they speak to me, they whisper in my ears and flit about my vision. The dead heed my call, and whisper secrets forgotten by time to me. Tell me, does your god do the same?”

- Nasefar, Ghost-Speaker, at his trial-

The afterlife is a nebulous concept. For some cultures it means paradise and for others it means eternal damnation in the nine hells. But most spirits do not go straight to their god’s domain. Many linger, unable to let go of their past or enraged at the living for letting them die, yet unable to interact or be seen by the rest of the world. ghost-speaker is a master of binding and harnessing these spirits to gain knowledge and through this knowledge, power.

Becoming a Ghost-Speaker

The path of a ghost-speaker is a long one, and is fraught with peril. Not only does the ghost-speaker risk their sanity on a regular basis, most societies and cultures look upon the art of the ghost-speaker with suspicion at the very least. Most ghost-speakers learn their art from ancient tomes and scrolls. Once the basics are learned spirit binding is a relatively easy, if not very safe path to power, since a would-be ghost-speaker is capable of summoning up the shades of long dead masters of the art to teach him.

Underworld Knowledge (Su): You have mastered the art of using the spirits of the underworld to further your quest for knowledge. As a swift action, you may attempt to call up the soul of one sentient creature that died within the last two years and within a hundred yards of you. Make a Will save with a DC equal to the ECL of the spirits former body + 5. If you succeed you gain a knowledge bonus to one skill that the spirits former body possessed equal to your Ghost-Speaker level + 5. This bonus lasts for a number of rounds equal to your Ghost-Speaker level.

Master of Specters (Su): The dead speak to you, and you are wise enough to heed their words. You may converse with all sentient creatures that have died within forty feet of you in the last hundred years as if they were still alive. At 10th level, you may converse with all sentient creatures that have died within the last thousand years within eighty feet of you as if they were still alive.

Speaker of the Dead (Ex): Your knowledge of what lies beyond allows you to more easily converse with, coerce and deceive those who are beyond death. You gain a +2 knowledge bonus to all social interactions with sentient undead, as well as with the spirits of the dead, for each level in Ghost-Speaker you have taken.

Step of Shades (Su): Through the spirits of the underworld, you have learned a method of entering the plane of shadows to speed your travels. Once per day, you may use the Shadow Walk spellas a supernatural ability.

Spirit Binding (Su): whenever a sentient, non-outsider creature dies within 100 feet of you, you may attempt to bind their soul to an object, effectively trapping it there. To do so you must succeed on a Will save with a DC equal to the ECL of the creature that died +5. If you succeed, the creature’s spirit is trapped in an object of your choice worth at least 5 gp. There is no limit to the number of spirits you can have bound at once. While they are bound in an object, the spirits can be called forth at any time, and the creature cannot be resurrected except by True Resurrection, Wish and Miracle.At 10th level, you may also attempt to bind already dead spirits in the same manner.

Harvester of Souls (Su): you have learned to draw strength from the death of others. Whenever a living, sentient, non-outsider creature dies within 10 feet of you, you gain 1d6 temporary hitpoints. At 10th level, this number increases to 2d4 temporary hitpoints. If you harvest the health of a creature in this way, its soul is destroyed, and thus you cannot bind it into an object as well.

Bringer of the Final Sleep (Su): You have studied the secrets of ghosts and phantoms, and this enables you to sever their soul from their body with a simple chant. Once per day you may cast the spell Undeath to Death as a supernatural ability. This ability only works on incorporeal undead.

Madness of the Grave (Su): You have devised a way of channeling the whispers of the dead into the minds of the living, bringing about insanity for the unprepared. You may cast the spell Insanity as a supernatural ability once per day.

Urist Mcmage

2015-08-16, 02:30 PM

Reserved for Extra Content

You may begin commentary.

Debihuman

2015-08-16, 10:56 PM

No level of spellcasting?

Debby

Elandris Kajar

2015-08-17, 08:50 AM

It looks very cool. I have a couple of thoughts though.
First, for step of shades, would the ethereal plane make more sense? It is where ghosts live. Or you could have them turn incorporeal for level rounds each day.
Also, they should be able to do something with the souls, even if it is something basic. A really cool capstone could be using them to make intelligent items.

Urist Mcmage

2015-08-17, 05:57 PM

@Debihuman: my reasoning behind this class was that it would be a better fit thematically and mechanically for warlocks, binders and shadowcasters, since none of those classes are capable of casting Speak with Dead, and those classes all sort of fit the ghost-talker theme. there is also the fact that wizards and sorcerers and clerics already have spells that can speak with the dead. that being said i will add spell caster levels if you guys think that would improve the class.

@ElrandisKajar: I tried to stay away from magic item creation, becuse that would mean stepping on the artificers toes, and additionally would require a system to determine how many souls it would take to craft each individual item. as for your other suggestions, I most certainly be implementing them.

Thanks

Urist Mcmage

Debihuman

2015-08-18, 12:44 AM

It's almost never worth taking a prestige class as a spellcaster if you lose caster levels. How exactly is someone supposed to qualify for speaking with the dead for a week? Speak with dead spells last 1 minute per caster level.

Urist Mcmage

2015-08-18, 03:59 PM

Ok, I gave the class spellcasting levels, and I changed the requirements so that the ability to cast spells is not required to enter the class. Does anyone have any other suggestions or commentary?